1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disc cartridge, and more particularly, to an optical disc cartridge which enables to facilitate accommodating the optical disc in the cartridge or taking out the accommodated optical disc in order to use the cartridge or directly use the optical disc when recording/reproducing information on the optical disc by using a disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus, and to the recording and/or reproducing apparatus.
2. Description of the Background Art
With the development of DVD technologies, a disc for recording/reproducing information has been densified. Such a high density optical disc or an important disc is put into a cartridge to protect data safely.
FIG. 1 is a disassembled perspective view of the conventional optical disc cartridge used for a BD (Blu-Ray Disc).
As shown therein, the cartridge of the optical disc includes: a lower case 10 having an access hole 11 which an optical pickup approaches; a pair of a left shutter 20 and a right shutter 30 hinge-coupled with the lower case 10 and opening/closing the access hole 11; a rotary wheel 40 coupled with the pair of shutters 20 and 30 and opening/closing the pair of shutters 20 and 30; an optical disc 50 positioned on the rotary wheel 40; an upper case 60 provided with a viewing hole and covering the pair of shutters 20 and 30, the rotary wheel 40 and the optical disc 50 by being coupled with the lower case 10; and a latch 70 mounted at a corner of the lower case 10 and fixing/releasing the rotary wheel 40.
The lower case 10 has a rectangular plate shape, the access hole 11 having a predetermined shape is penetratingly formed at one side of the, lower case 10, and two bosses 12 with which the left shutter 20 and the right shutter 30 are hinge-coupled project from an inner side of the plate shape.
The left shutter 20 is formed in such a manner that a cam groove 21 having a predetermined shape is formed at a plate having a predetermined shape, a hinge hole 22 into which the boss 12 is inserted is formed at one side of the plate, a first fixing protrusion 23 is formed at a side portion of the hinge hole 22, and a second fixing protrusion 24 is formed at an opposite side to the hinge hole 22.
The right shutter 30 is formed in such a manner that a cam groove 31 having a predetermined shape is formed at the plate having the predetermined shape, a hinge hole 32 into which the boss 12 is inserted is formed, and a first fixing protrusion 33 is formed at a side portion of the hinge hole 32.
The left shutter 20 and the right shutter 30 are movably coupled with the lower case 10 in order that bosses 12 are rotatably inserted into the hinge holes 22 and 32 respectively.
The rotary wheel 40 is formed such a manner that the rotary wheel 40 has a ring shape, a plurality of gear portions 41 are formed at an outer circumferential surface of one side of the ring shape, a fixing groove 42 which the latch 70 is inserted into is formed at a side of the gear portions 41, and cam protrusions 43 respectively inserted into the cam groove 21 of the left shutter 20 and the cam groove 31 of the right shutter 30 are formed at one surface of the ring shape. The rotary wheel 40 is positioned on the left shutter 20 and the right shutter 30 in order that the cam protrusions 43 are inserted into the cam groove 21 of the left shutter 20 and the cam groove 31 of the right shutter 30. A part of the rotary wheel 40 is formed inclined.
The disc is laid on the rotary wheel 40.
The latch 70 is rotatably coupled with one corner of the lower case 10, and one side of the latch 70 protrudes outside the lower case 10. The latch 70 is provided with an elastic portion 71 supported at a side wall of the lower case 10. In the latch 70, when the left shutter 20 and the right shutter 30 close the access hole 11 of the lower case 120, one side of the latch 70 is inserted into the fixing groove 42 of the rotary wheel, and the latch 70 fixes the rotary wheel 40 according to insertion of the latch 70 into the fixing groove 42 of the rotary wheel.
The upper case 60 has a quadrangular shape corresponding to the lower case 10. The viewing hole 61 having an inner diameter smaller than an outer diameter of the optical disc 50 is penetratingly formed in the upper case 60.
The lower case 10 and the upper case 60 are coupled with each other through a plurality of screws (not shown).
An operation of the above-described optical disc is as follows.
In the optical disc cartridge, information is recorded or reproduced on the optical disc 50 positioned on the optical disc cartridge by the disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus. Before the optical disc cartridge is inserted into the disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus, the left shutter 20 and the right shutter 30 close the access hole 11 of the lower case 10, and a part of the latch 70 is inserted into the fixing groove 42 of the rotary wheel so as to prevent rotation of the rotary wheel 40.
In a state that the left shutter 20 and the right shutter 30 close the access hole 11, the first fixing protrusions 23 and 33 of the left shutter 20 and the right shutter 30 and the second fixing protrusion 24 of the left shutter press an upper surface of the optical disc 50, thereby fixing the optical disc 50.
By pressing an upper surface of the optical disc 50 at three points by the first and second fixing protrusions 23 and 33 of the left shutter and right shutter and the second fixing protrusion 24 of the left shutter, fine foreign materials such as dust can be prevented from coming in, and besides the damage on a record surface of the optical disc can be prevented in case vibration is applied thereto.
And, when the optical disc cartridge is inserted into the disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus, a part of the latch 70 protruding outside the lower case 10 is pressed, the latch 70 is angle-rotated, and the part of the latch 70 is separated from the fixing groove 42. And, as a rack (not shown) provided with the recording and/or reproducing apparatus is engaged with the gear portions 41 and moved, the rotary wheel 40 is rotated. As the rotary wheel 40 is rotated, the cam protrusions 43 of the rotary wheel are respectively moved along the cam groove 21 of the left shutter 20 and the cam groove 31 of the right shutter 30.
As the cam protrusions 43 of the rotary wheel are respectively moved along the cam groove 21 of the left shutter 20 and the groove 31 of the right shutter 30, the left shutter 20 and the right shutter 30 are angle-rotated centering on the bosses 12 serving as an axis. According to angle-rotation of the left shutter 20 and the right shutter 30 respectively, the access hole 11 of the lower case 120 is opened, and the first fixing protrusions 23 and 33 and the second fixing protrusion 24 release fixation of the optical disc 50.
And, an optical pickup of the disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus approaches a record surface of the optical disc through the access hole 11 to reproduce or record data.
Meanwhile, a high density optical disc can be used in a state of being accommodated in a cartridge. However, with the development of disc reproduction technologies, by directly inserting the optical disc into a disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus without accommodating the optical disc in the cartridge, information is reproduced and recorded. For this case, the optical disc should be not only accommodated in the cartridge easily, but also the accommodated optical disc should be able to be easily drawn out.
However, in the above-described conventional optical disc, in case the optical disc 50 is accommodated in the cartridge, after accommodating the optical disc 50 in the rotary wheel 40 positioned in the lower case 10, the upper case 60 covers the lower case 10, and the upper case 60 and the lower case 10 are coupled with each other by a plurality of screws. When the optical disc 50 is drawn out from the cartridge, a plurality of screws are loosened, the upper case 60 is opened, and the optical disc 50 is separated. Accordingly, a job for accommodating and taking out the optical disc 50 in/from the cartridge is comparatively complicated and difficult, and besides a separate instrument is required.